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Plant Profiles

Today in the Garden of a Lifetime: Sunspire Magnolia in Bloom

Thanks to its exceptionally narrow habit, Sunspire magnolia is distinctive year-round. In early to mid-Spring, this pillar of a tree sports pale yellow flowers, capping its already strong performance with an astonishing floral cadenza. Ravishing!

Blossoms open over several weeks, with some buds just swelling while others have already fully flowered and then shed their petals.

The petals maintain their upward angle unlike those of so many other forms of Magnolia—southern magnolias and star magnolias in particular—whose petals become more and more horizontal or even reflexed as the flowers mature. Those blossoms are the epitome of voluptuousness verging on dishevelment, whereas these of Sunspire remain alert and, even, wary—like a flock of perching birds that might take flight any second.

With such tidy and, a bit, tense energy, we can be all the more grateful that these large yellow flowers are in residence as long as they are.

The blossom interior is pure yellow, but the exterior shows the faintest blush of pink. At the base of the blossom's stalk, you can see one of the two emerging stems of leafy growth.

Most of the the tree's new vegetative stems can mature enough during this growing season to develop a flower bud at the tip by Fall. Buds that contain nascent flowers instead of just nascent leafy growth are much larger. Through the Winter, they assure us that next Spring's thrilling floral display is already in the works.